Tegucigalpa, Honduras, June 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Honduran dairy company Lacteos de Honduras (LACTHOSA), along with the American conservation organization PANTHERA; the National Cattle ranchers’ association FENAGH and the government of Honduras through the Ministry of Environment MiAmbiente, signed an agreement to join efforts in order to protect and preserve the jaguar population in this Central American country.
LACTHOSA will provide a $100,000.00 grant to facilitate trainings by PANTHERA and their team of experts to more than 180 Honduran cattle ranchers, who are also milk providers for LACTHOSA and who are settled along the Jaguar Corridor in order to ensure their farms provide safe passages and reconnect the Jaguar Corridor along the northern coast of the country; Proving in this way that the peaceful coexistence between humans and jaguars is possible. The funds will also provide much needed technical equipment such as tramp cameras, anti-poaching cameras, drones and GPS systems to monitor the existing jaguar populations in national biological reserves such as Pico Bonito, Cusuco, Jeannette Kawas, Pico Pijol, Texiguat and Cuero y Salado.
LACTHOSA’s founder, Mr. Schucry Kafie and his family, received a recognition from PANTHERA for their dedication to saving the jaguar population. Kafie, who has always been an admirer of Jaguar’s, fostered this important national alliance after meeting with Panthera’s Alan Rabinowitz last year and learning how these big cats are killed for attacking livestock, which they tend to do when their usual preys are gone. LACTHOSA, being the company with perhaps the largest amount of cattle ranchers among their value chain, saw fit to promote this joint venture as part of their corporate social responsibility strategy as well as assisting the country in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Objective #15 Life on Land.
The government of Honduras will act as a facilitator and will monitor these workshops as part of the National Plan for the Jaguar Conservation, since they are targeted as part of the actions to resolve the conflicts between humans and jaguars. The cattle ranchers will receive these trainings and during the event manifested their pledge to ensure the safe passage of jaguars within their lands. Jaguars need these links to ensure their core populations and survival.
By promoting this alliance and commitment between the government, the private sector, the cattle ranchers and PANTHERA, Honduras has been the first country to raise the voice of the jaguars, a species that for centuries has been an icon in local culture for its power, grace and benefits to the ecosystem.
About PANTHERA:
Panthera is the only organization in the world that is devoted exclusively to the conservation of the world’s 40 wild cat species and their ecosystems. Utilizing the expertise of the world’s premier cat biologists, Panthera develops and implements global strategies for the most imperiled large cats: tigers, lions, jaguars, snow leopards, cheetahs, pumas, and leopards. www.panthera.org.
About LACTHOSA:
It is the leading company in Central America in the production and distribution of dairy products, juices and soft drinks. It generates more than 3,000 direct and 60,000 indirect jobs, thus benefiting a large sector of the Honduran population. www.lacthosa.com
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